Delhi Court convicts 4 for helping Al-Qaeda to set up base in India

A Delhi High Court on Friday convicted four Al-Qaeda operatives in the India Subcontinent (AQIS) for allegedly conspiring terror-activities and recruiting youngsters.

Identified as – Md. Asif, Md. Abdul Rehman, Zafar Masood and Abdul Sami –  were working at the behest of Al-Qaeda in India and were helping the terror group to set up its base in India.

The special judge Sanjay Khangwal of Patiala House Court convicted the accused under sections 18 (Conspiracy for Terror Act), and 18B (Recruitment for Terror Act) of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

The Delhi Police has revealed that it received a tip-off in December 2015 that Al-Qaeda was trying to set up its base in India and had declared one Asim Umar as one of its representatives.

Meanwhile, Md. Asif, resident of Sambhal, UP, who had visited Iran and Turkey to incorporate more resources for Al-Qaeda and was working as head of Al-Qaeda in India, was apprehended by the NDR, Special Cell.

Further investigation in the case led to the Md. Abdul Rehman, who had visited Pakistan illegally and met top-militants including the ones wanted in 26/11 Mumbai Terror Attacks, was apprehended from Cuttack in Odisha.

The Special Cell of Delhi Police had informed that Rehman was operating a madrassa in Uttar Pradesh where several students were enrolled and he allegedly tried to radicalize them for terror activities.

Thereafter, accused Abdul Sami, resident of Jamshedpur (Jharkhand) was apprehended from Mewat, Haryana in January, 2016. He was a Pak-trained militant.

The investigation led to more arrests like Syed Mohd. Zeeshan Ali and Dr. Sabeel Ahmad for providing financial and logistics assistance to the cadres of AQIS in UAE, while Sabeel was also linked with a terror case of Bengaluru (Karnataka) by NIA from IGI Airport, Delhi and later on, he was arrested in this case.